'Total Eclipse of the Heart' singer Bonnie Tyler dies aged 75

9 July 2026, 10:13

The Welsh singing legend's condition deteriorated after she underwent surgery in Portugal.

Bonnie Tyler has died at the age of 75.

The 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' singer passed away in Portugal, after suffering complications following emergency intestinal surgery.

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"Bonnie's family and team are heartbroken to announce that Bonnie unexpectedly passed away last night in hospital in Portugal as a result of the illness that she was being treated for," read a statement on her website today (July 9)

Tyler had been admitted to hospital in Faro, Portugal, where she has a home, for emergency intestinal surgery, her representatives confirmed on May 7.

At the time they said that the surgery had gone well, but later confirmed media reports that she had been put into an induced coma with the hope of aiding her recovery.

It was later reported that the surgery had been for a burst appendix, and that Tyler had to be resuscitated after going into cardiac arrest.

Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart (Turn Around) (Official Video)

The Wales-born singer had been performing long into her 70s, releasing her 18th studio album The Best Is Yet To Come in 2021 and launching the singles 'Only Love' and 'One World One Home' in April of this year.

Tyler played a career-spanning set of hits at London's Shepherds Bush Empire in March and had a packed calendar of live shows booked for the rest of the year.

Planned shows had includes festival sets in England and Scotland and a massive homecoming show at the Utilita Arena in Cardiff in December.

Tyler was born Gaynor Hopkins on June 8, 1951 in Skewen, Neath to coal miner dad Glyndŵr Hopkins and mum Elsie.

After her earliest performances as a child in church, she worked as a backing singer for Bobby Wayne & the Dixies before fronting her own group Imagination.

She changed her name to Sherene Davis and then, thanks to talent scout Roger Bell, then Bonnie Tyler.

Her debut single 'My! My! Honeycomb' flopped in April 1976, but less than six months later she scored a number nine hit and Top of the Pops performance with follow-up 'Lost in France'.

Tyler's debut album The World Starts Tonight was released in February 1977, but that spring she underwent surgery to remove vocal cord nodules.

She is said to have not properly rested her voice for the full six weeks, resulting in the distinctive singing tone that remained throughout her career.

Tyler had continued but not world-conquering success with RCA Victor, before moving to CBS/Columbia for her fifth studio album Faster Than the Speed of Night in 1983.

The move heralded a new musical direction, with Tyler joining up with writer/producer Jim Steinman.

The album topped the UK charts, went to number four in the US, and spawned a number of hit singles, including the stellar 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'.

Over the next decades she was a regular chart presence and constant figure on the road, and represented the UK in the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest with 'Believe in Me'.

In her personal life, Tyler married properly developer and former judo Olympian Robert Sullivan in July 1973. They remained married until Tyler's passing.